Category Archives: Arizona Diamondbacks

There’s a new kid on the block, the result of a terrific website that literally outgrew itself. Jam-packed with over 400 audio clips and several thousand photo’s its popularity as an online baseball library continues to grow.

“Sounds of Baseball” is the dream of Steve Contursi, a teacher and non-apologetic baseball aficionado from Catskill, New York, and is the culmination of years of work on an archaic system of programming known as “coding”. It involved the ideas around what it could, should, and would be, and eventually ended up as an informative website that was like no other.

Most of the data on the website could be found somewhere else in the blogosphere, but it would have been a real challenge to find a website that contained all of this specific type of data in the same place.

This was and this is exactly what he did. Over time and with much patience, “Sounds” reached the level of top-rated baseball websites by the top search engines.

However, change was occurring fast in the internet world and with that came many challenges. A call was put out to the baseball community for someone to help with a transition to a more user-friendly website.

Along came Ronni Redmond of Santa Cruz, CA, a baseball blogger with a small amount of baseball knowledge, and not a lot of computer experience. But she wrote a decent blog, had an insatiable appetite for anything baseball and lots of chutzpah and opinions.

This is the new “Sounds of Baseball”. Its foundation is the original “Sounds” with a few little ditties thrown in and published in a Word Press format that’s much easier to maintain. The Site will be evolving as new material becomes available. Goodbye to coding and hello to the formation of an unlikely pairing of a fan of the New York Yankees and a fan of the SF Giants and all teams in-between.

We hope you’ll visit the site. So please grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and turn up the volume.

“But the mainstay of the big leagues was the reservoir of 4-Fs – males of draft age who had been rejected on physical grounds by the Armed Forces. Not since harem attendants had gone out of style were men’s physical deficiencies so highly prized. Ulcers, hearing defects, and torn cartilages were coveted by team owners.” – Frank Graham, Jr. in Farewell to Heroes (1981)

Here’s a list of the 2014 salaries for the Major League Baseball teams. You can get a look at the individual player salaries from USA Today’s website. Individual rankings are interesting because you have to look past 65 players to get to the Royal’s top paid player, James Shields at #66. To find the highest paid “active” player on the Giants roster you’ll go to #29 for Tim Lineceum and further down to #89 for Buster Posey. But the real surprise was Madison Bumgarner who’s way down the list at #271. I’ll bet that’s going to change in the near future huh? Of course, you have to look at the total number of years in the individual contracts to see what the actual value is.

So the question is “Did they get what they paid for?” I’d say the Kansas City Royals management is feeling pretty good about themselves right now, ranking #18 out of 30 for highest salaries and still producing the top American League team in the nation.

I “Stumbled” on this great post that lists the origins of all 30 Major League Baseball Teams. It appears the Boston Red Sox hold the oldest named team dating back to the 1860’s, popularized by the Cincinnati Red Stockings from 1867-1870 and used by Boston’s National League franchise from 1871-1876.

But the actual team name origin that’s with the same team is the San Francisco Giants, formerly the New York Giants, that dates back to 1885.

Here’s the 2012 update to our 2011 listing published August 27, 2011. This comes to us compliments of USA Today. If you’ll click the individual teams, you can access the individual players salaries. It will be interesting to note the annual salaries of the teams that make the playoffs; in other words, did they get what they paid for?For example; the Washington Nationals have the best record in the Majors this year, but have the 11th Lowest Salary out of 30 Teams. Salary Chart Linked Here

I found a great little ditty this morning at the Washington Post. The Nationals are going to highlight special food from the visiting team’s home town each time they play in Washington. I recommend you take advantage of San Francisco’s special food “Garlic Fries” this year, especially since the Giants will be playing at Nationals Park on the 4th of July, and not just because they’re our namesake, but because they’re really, really good!

But for sure you gotta love the special food presented by the Washington Nationals this year, honoring their special pitcher, Stephen Strasburg. I hear it includes 12 pickles, representing the twelve strike-outs the Stras got in his first outing. Great article written by Dan Steinberg, from the Washington Post.

Nationals Park introduces 8-pound ‘StrasBurger’

The new 8 lb. Strasburger includes fries and a coke! Courtesy "Yardbarker"

(Marvin Joseph – TWP.) As the baseball season approaches, you know what that means on this here blog: lots of updates on the concessions available at Nationals Park.

Our first update concerns the Red Porch, and a brand-new menu item that will get lots of attention from media and fans: The StrasBurger. Via my favorite friends in Nats PR:

Weighing eight pounds total (including toppings), the StrasBurger is a monstrous all beef burger (combination of ground brisket, chuck and short ribs). The burger is served on a large burger bun with our secret sauce, American cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced red onions, pickle chips and served with a cone basket of fresh cut fries and a pitcher of your choice of soft drink. This signature dish is the perfect entrée to share at this affordably-priced family restaurant.

In case you missed the key phrase, this burger WEIGHS EIGHT POUNDS TOTAL, which is a lot of pounds. Even if some of them are onion pounds. Every TV station in this market will have hosts merrily attempting to grapple with the StrasBurger next month. At least, I hope so.The Red Porch will also feature special food and beer pairings that will spotlight area brews, including those from Dogfish Head and Flying Dog. Any time I get to type “Dogfish Head,” I consider that a win.

Also, the Taste of the Majors stand — which has spotlighted a few items from other MLB cities — will now feature a special dish from the city of each visiting opponent while they’re actually in D.C. Those items will all be limited time only offers, obviously. The list:

Atlanta: Smothered Fried Chicken Platter

Baltimore: Pit Beef Sandwich Platter

Arizona: Dog Platter

Chicago: Dog Platter

Cincinnati: 5-Way Cincinnati Chili

Colorado: Mile High Burger

Houston: Houston Nacho

Los Angeles: Dog Platter

Miami: Cuban Dog

Milwaukee: Beer Brat Platter

New York (Mets and Yankees): Coney Dog Platter

Philadelphia: Philly Chicken Cheese Steak Platter

Pittsburgh: Pitts Burger Platter

St. Louis: BBQ Rib Platter

San Diego: Fish Taco Platter

San Francisco: Garlic Fries and Shrimp Platter

Tampa Bay: Salty Dog Platter

Geez, this is all making me hungry! Only 23 Days to Opening Day ~ See you at the ballpark!

"The best possible thing in baseball is winning the World Series. The second best thing is losing the World Series." - Tommy Lasorda

"You teach me baseball and I’ll teach you relativity.... You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball." - Albert Einstein

"Baseball is a game of race, creed, and color. The race is to first base. The creed is the rules of the game. The color? Well, the home team wears white uniforms, and the visiting team wears gray."
Joe Garagiola

About this Blogger!

DISCLAIMER

GARLICFRIESANDBASEBALL is written by a long-time fan who simply loves the game. I write my own articles (hence the grammar and occasional misspellings). If I include an article from another source, credit is given to that source and will include links when appropriate. The opinions are my own.